Definitely wasn't enough warning before that Gears of War spoiler. I'm playing it right now.

I have some precious stuff in storage far away and storage wars scares me.

Still strange to hear about Chevys & surprised that they have some in obscure locations (like South Dakota) but not in some bigger states like Texas.

Blacksmithing making Amalur too easy is a valid complaint. It should've been balanced better at the default difficulty level that the majority of people will play the game on.

It's not Jeff's fault that it made the game too easy and the solution (crank up the difficulty or stop using this system) shouldn't be in his hands; it should be the developers.

This was a great bombcast!

*twiddles thumb*

@darkdragonmage99 said:

umm they do spell it out everyone who got the "good" ending knows she use to be Eric

I'm pretty sure that only happens in one ending out of eight.

@pweidman: The DLC Armour is also only for the starting levels as it becomes obsolete quite fast.

I heard the combat in KOA was pretty easy so I started on hard and the game is definitely a bit of a challenge at that difficulty. In my opinion it's just hard enough to be fun but avoids being so hard it's frustrating. A nice balance. Definitely recommend playing on hard. Totally agree about the side quests. Stick to the main quest and the faction quests.

umm they do spell it out everyone who got the "good" ending knows she use to be  Eric

The DLC stuff for KoA is not all Might focused. Only the ME3 armor, and well it's armor der. The weapons DLC has something for every type role. You find better in a few hrs granted, but I enjoyed the weapons for a while, kinda like a peek into the weapons and skills for each role/hybrid.

Also, so you thought socketing 15 or whatever +2 health regen gems in your gear wouldn't make the game too easy Jeff?

And I'd guess he played on normal anyway. It can be broken yeah sure, with enough player choices the game gives you. Just like Skyrim.

Maybe BHG can figure a way to put an insane mode in some patch or DLC. Challenge arenas? Seems doable...

@AMonkey said:

@Dagmar: Developers could also balance the mechanics they put in the game. Using crafting or reckoning isn't exploiting. Playing KoA:R on hard mode is still piss easy, even when I'm not using any of the mentioned.

I didn't say it wasn't imbalanced. And yes, it's on the developers but you take blacksmithing to make better armor than what you're finding, you make gems for that armor that is better than that which is found. It's not the biggest leap to suggest that eventually all you're doing is making the combat less interesting by removing the difficulty. All I did was point out that Jeff was complaining about difficulty, then proceeded to explain how he used blacksmithing and sagecraft, both of which are known to remove a lot of difficulty from the game. As for the difficulty even without those things, it's all in how efficiently you can dodge, if you can dodge bullets it doesn't really matter how much increased damage those bullets do if they never hit you. Then again, dodging the attacks is integral to the games combat and one of the elements of how fun it is.

@Dagmar: Developers could also balance the mechanics they put in the game. Using crafting or reckoning isn't exploiting. Playing KoA:R on hard mode is still piss easy, even when I'm not using any of the mentioned.

Pretty much "I leveled blacksmithing and sagecrafting and made overpowered gear with overpowered gems stacking health regen and now the game is easy!" (Skyrim has nearly the same problem)

Don't take blacksmithing, don't use health regen, don't use reckoning mode, don't use potions, use hard difficulty. There are ways to exploit things, just don't. You will find very high levels of difficulty and plenty of bosses that one hit you using the above.

ghost trick is fucking incredible!!! im glad i bought it for the DS.

Can these be listened to on my android, via the app that I saw was available?

I haven't found Skyrim all that repetitive.  I still enjoy fleshing out every nook
& crannie the game has to offer.  I typically play Bethesda games for up to a
year before I'm done with it.  Probably Vinnie just played too much for too long
& burned out?  I reserve the bulk of my play for the weekends for minimal 
interruption, but that also means a huge week long gap in between.
 
I was also tired out by the triple ending of Catherine.  I think what would have
made the game better is if they sprinkled multiple easier puzzles in between
the harder ones so you have time to get practice & get a feel for how to play
the game, as opposed to just dying, repeating, over & over.  Also, the youtube
videos didn't always help out.  There were some areas where I just totally
got over it in some random way, such as finding a cube that had a built-in
trampoline that I could use to hop over the shit spots.

I know I'm late but guys, AWESOME Game of The Year podcast. Fucking loved every minute of that stuff, it's the first Giant Bombcast I've listened to in almost a year and fuck if it hasn't brought me back into the fold 100%. You're da bomb, fellas. The Giant Bomb ;).

@Marokai: I don't think I would characterize Brad's description as implying a "seething" hatred. You might be over sensitive or expecting too much. He has named unambiguous criticisms against the game, in the story, pacing, uninspired music, art, and dialogue. For a role playing game, poor examples of these things are plenty to elucidate why the game is not engaging. It is not required that you agree, but in my long, tumultuous experience playing Final Fantasy games, it has been those aspects that make or break a particular game. That was all the info I needed.

@Marokai: It seems pretty obvious to me why he doesn't like the game. He's said repeatedly that he is bored, that the characters from FFXIII he found interesting are absent, that he dislikes the storytelling and style and that the gameplay has not drawn him in like he expected. That is a review in all but name, regardless of whether he finished the product, and no, I do not think that this always a requirement to give criticism on a game, not even, gasp, a Final Fantasy game.

There is actually a show called weed wars lol

Just saying: Dave is the funniest man at Whiskey Media. JUST SAYING!

So I ripped my headphones off when Vinny started talking about the finale of Skyrim. Could we get a heads up (aka spoiler warning) next time you are about to discuss quest endings and game finales?

Everyone is giving Amalur a lot of crap, but funny enough I don't really agree with a lot of the completes. I'm loving all this crap, I haven't had this much fun than borderlands. I like it a lot more than Skyrim actually, probably just personal preference, but Skyrim bored me seriously after the first 40 hours, I just couldn't be asked to keep killing the same bandits/draugrs over and over for identical loot.

Playing through 13-2 has actually made me realize how much I loved 13, the story is great and the combat was fun when they finally let you choose your party. I just wish it didn't take 30 hours for them to let you use all 6 members. 13-2's story is very boring so far for me, I'm about 20 hours in and the only thing I care about is finding out whats up with lightning, Noel is uninteresting and Serah is kind've annoying. Its a good thing the combat is still a ton of fun,SPOILER: they shoulda just put the part with Snow earlier in the game and had him be the 3rd member instead of the weird monster thing, or just let the monsters use CP as well to level.

@Marokai said:

Though I'm not crazy about the game myself, I would appreciate it if Brad could at least elaborate on why he doesn't like Final Fantasy XIII-2 the game. I feel like all I've heard from him so far is weird groans whenever it's mentioned, and bizarre meta criticisms of the series and its naming conventions, more than anything about XIII-2 itself. If you hate the game, fine, but it doesn't make for very interesting commentary for you to not elaborate on anything about it at all, and it's really not useful to anyone.

The only criticism he's made of the game is the fact that it has a slow start. And, sorry to shock anyone here, but sometimes JRPGs have slow starts. I know!

He does state that the game features main protagonists that are not at all interesting to him, the combat system is back but they added weird QTEs (and Pocket Monsters) to it and the game seems to trade a strong narrative for a quasi-open episodic structure. Yeah those are some legit criticisms that go beyond hate for the character designs.

Ok now officialy I don't know what "bro-y" means

Though I'm not crazy about the game myself, I would appreciate it if Brad could at least elaborate on why he doesn't like Final Fantasy XIII-2 the game. I feel like all I've heard from him so far is weird groans whenever it's mentioned, and bizarre meta criticisms of the series and its naming conventions, more than anything about XIII-2 itself. If you hate the game, fine, but it doesn't make for very interesting commentary for you to not elaborate on anything about it at all, and it's really not useful to anyone.
 
The only criticism he's made of the game is the fact that it has a slow start. And, sorry to shock anyone here, but sometimes JRPGs have slow starts. I know!

@JazGalaxy said:

@CptBedlam said:

@JazGalaxy said:

@CptBedlam said:

@Wasara88: No need to post the same video again and again, guys. I know the intro, I like it and no, while it's trashy it's not the same kind of ridiculousness and cartoonish cheesyness that plagues modern RE games. It was no place for silly Matrix-Wesker, for example. He wouldn't have fit at all into the "reality" of the early RE games. It was no place for impractical latex body suits either. There was no "show tits of coop partner" button... the list goes on...

I hate to say it, bro, but you're just not looking at it right. I know it's easier, when games didn't have as much production, to IMAGINE that they were different, but it is what it is. I mean, when I played Metal Gear on the NES, what I saw in my head vs. what Kojima saw in HIS head were 2 entirely different things.

From the STARS unit (where everyone wears their own color coded uniform like Power Rangers), to Tyrant, to everything Barry does and says, to the cheesey voice saying "Resident E-Villl"... the game was ridiculous. You have to remember, all Japanese games are anime. Even if you have more fun with them pretending they're not.

You fail to see how the vibe and tone between older and newer RE games is very different. Again, just look at the examples ... Wesker in his Neo-outfit, beaming himself around ... that would've been wildy out of place in early RE games. Nope, these games went from trashy and B-movie-like to cartoonishly ridiculous.

I disagree. What you're saying is something of a chicken and the egg conundrum.

Wesker DIDN'T beam himself around in RE1, but just because he didn't doesn't mean it would have been any more out of place than anything else in that game. I mean, you're saying, after what Rebecca wears in RE1, and what Ada Wong wears in RE2, that a catsuit would have been out of place?

Just because they didn't DO it, doesn't mean they wouldn't have done it if that's what they wanted to do. I mean, I'm even confused where you're saying a shift in tone took place? The giant robot midget in RE 4 that chases you down a hallway trying to kill you? The ridiculous incest twins in Code Veronica? Nemesis the trenchcoat wearing frankenstein? Ada Wong the preposterous secret agent in high heels and an inexplicable dress? Or was it just there all along with the "hey throw me a rocket launcher so I can kill this thing", "I wish I was a master of unlocking", "let me eat some herbs I found growing in this basement so I can feel better after having been marginally eaten by zombies" gameplay of the first RE?

You don't get it. Matrix-Wesker beaming himself around wouldn't have fit into the early RE "reality". It's a totally different tone.

@CptBedlam said:

@JazGalaxy said:

@CptBedlam said:

@Wasara88: No need to post the same video again and again, guys. I know the intro, I like it and no, while it's trashy it's not the same kind of ridiculousness and cartoonish cheesyness that plagues modern RE games. It was no place for silly Matrix-Wesker, for example. He wouldn't have fit at all into the "reality" of the early RE games. It was no place for impractical latex body suits either. There was no "show tits of coop partner" button... the list goes on...

I hate to say it, bro, but you're just not looking at it right. I know it's easier, when games didn't have as much production, to IMAGINE that they were different, but it is what it is. I mean, when I played Metal Gear on the NES, what I saw in my head vs. what Kojima saw in HIS head were 2 entirely different things.

From the STARS unit (where everyone wears their own color coded uniform like Power Rangers), to Tyrant, to everything Barry does and says, to the cheesey voice saying "Resident E-Villl"... the game was ridiculous. You have to remember, all Japanese games are anime. Even if you have more fun with them pretending they're not.

You fail to see how the vibe and tone between older and newer RE games is very different. Again, just look at the examples ... Wesker in his Neo-outfit, beaming himself around ... that would've been wildy out of place in early RE games. Nope, these games went from trashy and B-movie-like to cartoonishly ridiculous.

I disagree. What you're saying is something of a chicken and the egg conundrum.

Wesker DIDN'T beam himself around in RE1, but just because he didn't doesn't mean it would have been any more out of place than anything else in that game. I mean, you're saying, after what Rebecca wears in RE1, and what Ada Wong wears in RE2, that a catsuit would have been out of place?

Just because they didn't DO it, doesn't mean they wouldn't have done it if that's what they wanted to do. I mean, I'm even confused where you're saying a shift in tone took place? The giant robot midget in RE 4 that chases you down a hallway trying to kill you? The ridiculous incest twins in Code Veronica? Nemesis the trenchcoat wearing frankenstein? Ada Wong the preposterous secret agent in high heels and an inexplicable dress? Or was it just there all along with the "hey throw me a rocket launcher so I can kill this thing", "I wish I was a master of unlocking", "let me eat some herbs I found growing in this basement so I can feel better after having been marginally eaten by zombies" gameplay of the first RE?

I'm a huge Resident Evil fan and I can't understand the hate that RE's own fans have for it.
They remind me of those "no mutants allowed" weirdos.

I will buy a Condemned 3 Monolith even though Condemned 2 was kind of disappointing.

Resident Evil 1 was very deliberately trying to capture the vibe of both American B-movies and Western horror games like Alone in the Dark. It stars American cops in American cities fighting zombies and science gone wrong with shotguns and grenade launchers. It's very much made with Western tastes in mind, and always has been.

The "anime ridiculousness" really only started with Code Veronica and RE5 (which treated it somewhat seriously like they thought they were the next Metal Gear Solid) and Resident Evil 4 (which treated it like an 80s Hollywood action movie).

While I agree that there's been a shift in tone, it's a shift in tone that coincides with shifting tastes in the demographic RE has always gone after. You may not like it (I'm split on it), but RE has always tried to capture the attention of 18-35 year old Western males with cool cop/special ops bros and ridiculously dressed hot babes shooting up monsters with "realistic" military weaponry.

@JazGalaxy said:

@CptBedlam said:

@Wasara88: No need to post the same video again and again, guys. I know the intro, I like it and no, while it's trashy it's not the same kind of ridiculousness and cartoonish cheesyness that plagues modern RE games. It was no place for silly Matrix-Wesker, for example. He wouldn't have fit at all into the "reality" of the early RE games. It was no place for impractical latex body suits either. There was no "show tits of coop partner" button... the list goes on...

I hate to say it, bro, but you're just not looking at it right. I know it's easier, when games didn't have as much production, to IMAGINE that they were different, but it is what it is. I mean, when I played Metal Gear on the NES, what I saw in my head vs. what Kojima saw in HIS head were 2 entirely different things.

From the STARS unit (where everyone wears their own color coded uniform like Power Rangers), to Tyrant, to everything Barry does and says, to the cheesey voice saying "Resident E-Villl"... the game was ridiculous. You have to remember, all Japanese games are anime. Even if you have more fun with them pretending they're not.

You fail to see how the vibe and tone between older and newer RE games is very different. Again, just look at the examples ... Wesker in his Neo-outfit, beaming himself around ... that would've been wildy out of place in early RE games. Nope, these games went from trashy and B-movie-like to cartoonishly ridiculous.

@CptBedlam said:

@Wasara88: No need to post the same video again and again, guys. I know the intro, I like it and no, while it's trashy it's not the same kind of ridiculousness and cartoonish cheesyness that plagues modern RE games. It was no place for silly Matrix-Wesker, for example. He wouldn't have fit at all into the "reality" of the early RE games. It was no place for impractical latex body suits either. There was no "show tits of coop partner" button... the list goes on...

I hate to say it, bro, but you're just not looking at it right. I know it's easier, when games didn't have as much production, to IMAGINE that they were different, but it is what it is. I mean, when I played Metal Gear on the NES, what I saw in my head vs. what Kojima saw in HIS head were 2 entirely different things.

From the STARS unit (where everyone wears their own color coded uniform like Power Rangers), to Tyrant, to everything Barry does and says, to the cheesey voice saying "Resident E-Villl"... the game was ridiculous. You have to remember, all Japanese games are anime. Even if you have more fun with them pretending they're not.

You whores! I didn't get a majority of the games released last year because I didn't have the cash not because i wasn't serious about it! O_O

I just got Gears 3 last week for $40 and was playing through the campaign with the Bombcast going in one ear. I got my phone out to stop it when I heard Gears 3 spoilers mentioned but was to late and heard the first two words, boy was my butt hole tight. I skipped ahead in the podcast and resumed playing the game, 15 seconds later exactly what you said happened (turns out I was playing that very act) and my butt hole loosened. I forgot I didn't give a fuck about Blah and if you thought it was over dramatic I have to agree.

If there was a game that had both Barry Weiss and Barry Burton((from resident evil)) that would be awesome.

@Wasara88: No need to post the same video again and again, guys. I know the intro, I like it and no, while it's trashy it's not the same kind of ridiculousness and cartoonish cheesyness that plagues modern RE games. It was no place for silly Matrix-Wesker, for example. He wouldn't have fit at all into the "reality" of the early RE games. It was no place for impractical latex body suits either. There was no "show tits of coop partner" button... the list goes on...

@SlickWillyJJ said:

Must control pet peeve, but...It really pissed me off when Patrick confused WW1 with WW2. It just goes to show how little reverence kids these days have for the veterans( Including my great-grandfather) of the Great War. They view it as a mere stepping stone to WW2, the "big" war. So, fuck you Patrick Klepek!

With that being said,yeah, I do really want to revisit the WW1 sections of the first game.

1887-1935

HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH

It's funny how they debate for so long about getting anyone at the halftime show who is relevant, and completely neglect to mention that LMFAO, Nicki Minaj, and Cee-Lo preformed there. They have all had huge hits this summer.

@CptBedlam said:

Man, Ryan is so wrong when he keeps repeating that RE has always been this cheesy and ridicluous. No it was not, please go back and play the first two games or REmake.

Resident Evil 1 not cheesy....what?

Reckoning is on Steam, but it's actually self published and not published by EA.

@antivanti: Hey, several parts of the original TERRIFIED my young teenage self, but there was still something overtly camp and cheesy about the voice acting in that game that squarely belongs in teh ridiculous category.

@TeflonBilly said:

@CptBedlam said:

Man, Ryan is so wrong when he keeps repeating that RE has always been this cheesy and ridicluous. No it was not, please go back and play the first two games or REmake.

Oh come on! The first Resident Evil is beyond ridiculous!

Sure it was unintentional and they ironed a lot of that out in the REmakes, but try looking at the intro to the original Resident Evil again.

I'd say they managed to serious it up more for Resident Evil 2 and 3 by having CG cutscenes so there wasn't as much of a disconnect and not as camp voice acting.

I definitely didn't think it was ridiculous when I first played Bio Hazard (JAP import at a friend before it was released in the west.. or probably a pirate copy if I'm honest). Maybe it was because I was like 14-15 at the time or that games hadn't come as far back then but I was scared shitless after that intro and even more so after trying to go out thru the door just to see the FMV of the dogs trying to get in. The FMV "makes it real, man!"

In all fairness, Jill was under mind control and all that jazz. I mean, look at Sheva within the same game. She's totally normal. And though Jill has a skin tight wetsuit in Revelations, they still don't do any ridiculous pandering. She just has a wetsuit on(though Jessica's outfit is definitely silly, though I guess some plot arguments can be made about that) Plus, I also don't get the bro-y complaints. It's not like it turned into Gears of War or anything. Chris just has more of a military background, therefore he's going to be more soldiery. When they show Leon, be it RE6 or anything else he's in, he's different, and far more solo super agent and everything.

And I don't want to hear any complaints about RE5 being the first action based game in the series. RE3 started that, and Code Veronica had quite a bit of action too. Heck, the whole series had been boosting the action quotient, starting with RE2. Really, the only one since then that has toned the action back was RE0. Which sucked.

@CptBedlam said:

@AngelN7: No one is denying the trash-factor that was part of RE since the beginning. But they've gone way too over the top with the "bro-y-ness", the cheap attempts to include sex etc. That's definitely not what RE was in the first games.

Ok now officialy I don't know what "bro-y" means you mean because of the RE6 trailer Chris is working with other soilders? to me bro-y means Gung-ho soilders saying Hu-rah! when promp to or saying stuff like "don't you die on me now" or any other BS soilder jargon about kicking ass, I don't think Resident Evil 5 was about that I took it as the relantionship and trust with one's parther , sure they sexed up a bit with Jill but I didn't mind that they've done that with her since RE3.

@TeflonBilly: I know the intro and I love it. I wouldn't even say it was unintentionally trashy, and I also wouldn't say the newer RE games are intentionally trashy.

Repeating myself: "No one is denying the trash-factor that was part of RE since the beginning. But they've gone way too over the top with the "bro-y-ness", the cheap attempts to include sex etc. That's definitely not what RE was in the first games."

@CptBedlam said:

Man, Ryan is so wrong when he keeps repeating that RE has always been this cheesy and ridicluous. No it was not, please go back and play the first two games or REmake.

Oh come on! The first Resident Evil is beyond ridiculous!

Sure it was unintentional and they ironed a lot of that out in the REmakes, but try looking at the intro to the original Resident Evil again.

I'd say they managed to serious it up more for Resident Evil 2 and 3 by having CG cutscenes so there wasn't as much of a disconnect and not as camp voice acting.

@AngelN7: No one is denying the trash-factor that was part of RE since the beginning. But they've gone way too over the top with the "bro-y-ness", the cheap attempts to include sex etc. That's definitely not what RE was in the first games.